


the gold that matters

by notactvictor



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Canon Universe, Fluff, Love Poems, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-29
Updated: 2017-05-29
Packaged: 2018-11-06 07:00:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11031039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notactvictor/pseuds/notactvictor
Summary: Victor finds inspiration to write as he watches Yuri be Yuri.Yuri, being Yuri, jumps to all kinds of conclusions.





	the gold that matters

Practice is over, and Yuri is proud of himself.

No, he hasn’t landed a quad axel - and no, he hasn’t managed to dodge Yakov’s vitriol about his free leg. He’s just glad to be _alive._

It’s a well-documented fact anxiety might as well be part of his default setting, but there have only been a handful of times the physical symptoms progressed into fearing his heart will literally give out, and this, of course, is one such case.

So yeah, he’s glad to be breathing.

And he’s glad nobody seems to notice him approach Mila, everyone too exhausted to care about anything other than putting on guards and heading off to the showers.

“Do you have it?” He asks, voice small.

“Yes.” She says, an unreadable expression across her face. He follows her gaze toward the rink just in time to see Victor land a clean quad flip. He’s staying an extra hour today - Yakov’s determination for spending a whole year on the bench. Victor didn’t protest—too much. “C’mon.”

Yuri follows Mila down the hall leading to the lockers, and besides the fact he can’t feel any of his limbs, he thinks he might make it.

Of course, he blames himself for this.

If he’d just focused on telling noobs off at League of Legends and not reacted to Victor’s laughter. If he hadn’t looked up from his computer and caught his eyes across the couch—full of mirth and something else he couldn't pin down. If he hadn’t glanced at Victor’s notepad, resting neatly on his knees, and asked what he'd been writing. If he wasn’t _curious._

Victor read the words for him but refused to translate it, apparently that’s his idea of a language-learning incentive. Yuri did catch a word here and there, though—his own name was pretty obvious as it crossed Victor’s lips; then there was First; Gold; and something else about numbers. Needless to say, his brain was sent into an instant downward spiral.

Was Victor talking about medals? About how Yuri failed to come first and get gold? How much of a disappointment it all was? How—

“Yuri.” Mila calls, voice soft. He jumps a bit in response, only now registering they’re standing in front of her locker. “You went somewhere.”

“Sorry.” He says, cheeks flushing against his will.

Mila’s smile is sweet, understanding. “It’s fine.”

“I gotta say, it was kind of difficult to translate it.” She explains, “The pic you sent me last night was so blurry.”

“Sorry, I had to snap it fast.”

Mila chuckles, rummaging through her stuff. He chances a glance inside her locker - she’s not very organized. “Victor giving you a hard time with Russian?”

Yuri blanches. “How do you…?”

“Trust me, this,” Mila pulls something small out of her crumpled coat’s pocket. “—only he could’ve written it.”

Yuri stares at the piece of paper for longer than certainly conventional, snatching it somewhat harshly from her fingers when he catches himself. “Thank you.”

“I’m glad you’re here.”

Yuri’s head shoots up at the sudden admission. Mila has that same indecipherable look about her.

“We’ve been rink mates forever, but I’ve never seen him like this. He’s happy, and that’s because of you.”  

Yuri feels his throat close up. “I… don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything.” Mila smiles, squeezing his shoulder. Yuri actually finds the touch comforting. “Just stay close to him.”

He stares at Mila’s retreating back as she makes to the showers, the exchange leaving his mind in a daze.

The sound of running water is what snaps him out of it. He hastily unfolds the piece of paper, willing his heart to keep beating inside his ribcage for just a little longer as he reads.

> _“to my first and only love, yuri katsuki._
> 
> _this is what science tells us:_   
>  _there are approximately_   
>  _131 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000_   
>  _tonnes of gold in the universe_   
>  _but see, i know for a fact_   
>  _there should only be 0.2 grams in your body_
> 
> _you must understand my confusion._
> 
> _i finally made sense of it in my later calculations:_   
>  _this morning, 6 grams of gold shone on your finger as the sun bled through the curtains_   
>  _the gold around mine slid through your hair—that’s another 6 grams_   
>  _your eyes flickered open, and you smiled at me_   
>  _that’s… too much to weigh_
> 
> _in hindsight, i’d say that number is missing a few zeros.”_

The following moments are mostly a blur. Yuri feels himself run down the halls and bump into who he assumes is Yurio, if the indignant shouts he ignores are anything to go by. Then, he’s speeding across the ice.

Victor, having just come out of a sit spin, has no chance to brace for Yuri’s arms locking around his neck, stumbling and falling on his back.

“Yuuurii!” He laughs, rich and deep, and Yuri feels like the sound could swallow him whole. He’s faintly aware of Yakov yelling at them, but it’s just background noise. “Did you miss me, zolotse?”

Yuri’s heart stills at the word. He sits up, straddling Victor’s hips. “What did you just call me?”

Victor’s face melts into something young and tender, eyes so open they almost hurt to look at. 

“Zolotse.” He says, barely above a whisper, and gently tucks some hair behind Yuri’s ear. “My gold.”

The next thing Yuri knows, Victor is sitting up with an urgent expression, hands flying to his face. “Yuri, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

_Oh._

He’s crying.

Yuri gives a frantic shake of his head, uselessly wiping the tears away. “No—I—it—”

“What’s that?” Victor asks, looking at the clumped piece of paper in his grasp. Yuri hesitates before handing it over - maybe Victor will be angry, maybe he didn’t want him to—

“Yuri, you translated everything! I’m so proud! ” Victor smiles, wide and bright, wrapping his arms around him. Yuri melts in the embrace, sniffing into Victor’s neck. 

“Wasn’t me.” He confesses after a while.

Victor draws back slightly, brows knit in silent questioning. 

Yuri blushes. “Mila.”

Victor huffs out a chuckle, pressing their foreheards together. “ _Cheat_.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and especially comments are deeply appreciated! This fic can also be found on my [blog.](http://notactvictor.tumblr.com/post/160145269448/the-gold-that-matters)


End file.
